March on Tux Penguins! – 7000 Linux Guides
TuxMobil is the World Wide Web’s biggest resource when it comes to Linux-based operating system and laptop computers. And the site, founded by Werner Houser, has no intention, it seems, of letting anyone catch it. It’s doubled in size in just the last three years, and now has more than 7,000 guides on Linux installation and configuration.
TuxMobil now has installation guides on it for nearly every notebook maker out there-up to 220 different manufacturers. The site even has guides for tablet PCs and WebPads, which are especially complicated to configure with Linux.
Many of the guides also deal with hardware, and getting them to work properly with a Linux OS. We’re talking all sorts of card slots (Express, PCI, PCMCIA), BlueTooth and wireless connectivity, and Webcams. Updates are available to help maximize configurations with certain processors and graphics chips, as well.
The site also covers the full gamut of Linux distributions, like Ubuntu, Fedora, Redhat, and Gentoo, as well as more exotic Unix derivatives like Minix, BSD, and Solaris.
If all this is starting to sail over your head, no worries. The main message is: TuxMobil is a clear testament to the popularity of Linux, the world’s top alternative to Windows. But it’s also evidence of just how great an idea it was to start TuxMobil. The site is more than just a how-to for Linux. It is a community of Linux lovers encouraged to publish their own guides for setting up Linux on certain laptops, and these folks are obviously happy to help out other users.
Laptop manufacturers still need to warm up some to the site. But that only means exponential growth for TuxMobil when they do. So expect more news here on TuxMobil, similar to all of the other upbeat coverage the Penguin’s No. 1 has already gotten on Laptopical.
By Matthew Brodsky – Laptopical
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
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Earlier article From May 2006:
Techies love Linux. The vanguard of laptop users out there love the open source operating system too. But for many others of us, installation of Linux seems too complicated. Working with Windows is much more familiar, much easier. Now, however, us newbies to the way of Tux the Penguin can’t use that lame excuse anymore, thanks to the Web site TuxMobil.
Laptopical’s reported on TuxMobil before, if you’ve been paying attention (check out our entries on February 22 and August 17, 2005). But now TuxMobil is making headlines again. The site now lists more than 5,000 Linux laptop installation reports, making it the largest such online repository of Linux help for laptop users.
The most stubborn of newbies may ask, “So, what the heck does this news mean to me?”
Well, put simply, the Linux OS can have issues with some hardware found on laptops, such as internal card readers, Suspend-to-RAM, and modems. And in many cases, the laptop manufacturers won’t offer any customer support when it comes to installing open source software on their products.
TuxMobil fills that gap. Linux notebook users from around the world have contributed their installation experiences and wisdom on such problems, and how to get around them-more than 5000 contributions total since it started in March 1997, with more than 2000 new entries coming in just the last year.
Of course, Linux isn’t about creating headaches, so the site also contains information on all of the benefits of switching to a Linux operating system. Search through all of the entries by the manufacturer of your laptop. Or track down installation reports relevant to you by looking under your CPU or Linux distribution.
We were supposed to keep it simple, right? Sorry. How’s this: TuxMobil is the best resource for mobile penguins and wannabe penguins-for laptop installation information and even for installation on cell phones, PDAs, and other portable media players. March on penguins, march on.
By Matthew Brodsky – Laptopical
Tuesday, May 09, 2006